Capitalism vs. Socialism

Capitalism

vs.

Socialism

Inequality

The capitalist class derives its vast wealth from the extraction of profit by exploiting labor—paying workers less than the value they produce. Socialized production alongside private ownership results in an ever expanding class of increasingly impoverished working people on the one hand, and an ever increasing concentration of wealth on the other.

Under socialism, the contradiction of socialized production and private ownership can finally be resolved. By replacing private appropriation with socialized appropriation, the tremendous wealth of society can be equitably distributed so all people will have their basic needs met.

Unemployment

Boom-bust cycles culminate in crises of overproduction, which are an inherent feature of the profit system. Private producers in all industries compete for finite markets, ultimately producing too many products than can be sold at a profit. Inevitably, production shuts down, throwing millions into unemployment, under-employment, poverty & homelessness.

Under socialism, overproduction will be eradicated by establishing a planned economy that produces for human need rather than private profit. Planning production on this basis will ensure that the appropriate amount of products will be produced for each community, eliminating the obscene waste caused by capitalist overproduction crises.

War

Under capitalism, an innate expand-or-die logic results in increasing militarism and warfare, as competing states vie for the domination of global resources and markets for capital, commodities and labor. In consequence, suffering and devastation are wreaked upon the population and the planet.

Under socialism, militarization and warfare will be eliminated once and for all. The withdrawal of all U.S. troops and military installations from foreign countries will free up trillions in wealth formerly siphoned into the coffers of the military-industrial complex. It will also cause the downfall of countless autocratic U.S.-client states, liberating millions of people from extreme oppression and exploitation globally.

Bigotry

Under capitalism, the tiny capitalist class dominates society by dividing the working class. In consequence, a vast array of special oppressions—including racism, sexism, homophobia and national chauvinism—run rampant and can never be fully eradicated. While important gains have been achieved through struggle, they are always threatened with overturn.

Under socialism, all forms of special oppression can finally be eradicated by eliminating the material motive for dividing the working class against itself, and by building a society based on human solidarity, as opposed to one based on inequality.